Two large energy supppliers, Ovo and Octopus Energy, have launched demand response options that will allow customers to save money if they cut electricity use during peak times.
Both The trial rewards customers up to £100 in total for moving non-essential energy use to times when the grid is (on average) greener and less congested.
Octopus Energy is the UK’s fourth largest energy supplier. Its ‘Saving Sessions’ option will be available to its 1.4 million smart meter customers and around 5,000 of its business customers.
The Octopus scheme follows a trial in February-March, which saw over 100,000 of its customers emailed and texted in advance to let them know the two-hour slot to ‘turn down’.
During the evening peak, participants reduced their consumption on average by 0.7kWh. The average saving for households per trial window was £0.23, with some participants saving up to £4.35 per ‘turn down’ event. In total, customers shifted 197MWh out of times of peak demand.
In the new scheme, for every unit of energy customers save compared to their normal usage during a specific timeframe, Octopus expects to pay customers £4 on average, potentially saving customers around £100 over the course of the winter. The scheme will run between November and March.
Ovo says the average household uses 19% of its daily total usage during peak hours of 4-7pm. It wants participants to cut their average consumption during these hours to less than 12.5%. For the average household, that could be the equivalent of moving three loads of washing per week from peak time to a greener time of day. £20 will be rewarded for each month that this is achieved on average. The trial runs from 1 November to – 31 March and OVO will be contacting customers to apply from mid October.
Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy Group, said: “Let’s be very clear: this is a historic moment – we’re entering a new era of energy in which households are moving from passive offtakers to active enablers of a smarter, greener and cheaper grid.

“Instead of cutting off whole chunks of the country if we are short of gas, we can reward people for using less energy at times of peak demand.”

Raman Bhatia, chief executive of Ovo, said: “The UK energy sector is at a crucial point, and we need a resilient grid to get us through this winter.
“This trial provides essential consumer data which can be shared with the government and the National Grid to prevent power shortages, and will give customers a deeper insight into their energy consumption habits, with great potential savings.”